Sermon on Acts 1:1-11
Rev. Caela Simmons Wood
First Congregational UCC, Manhattan, KS
May 16, 2021
It’s not too often a sermon from the 12th century gets quoted in this pulpit, but as the season of Easter draws to a close, there are some words from St. Bernard of Clairvaux that are just begging to be shared. I’ve updated the language a bit to make it more accessible for 21st century ears. Listen, now, for the movement of the Spirit and see if you can find yourself anywhere in these old, old words:
For some people, Christ has not yet suffered. They avoid hardships and still fear death as though Jesus didn’t already conquer all hardships by enduring them...as though Jesus didn’t already conquer death by dying.
For some, Christ hasn’t yet risen. They experience death all day long. They are trapped in unending anxiety about their works and the pain of regret. They haven’t yet received spiritual consolation.
For others, Christ has risen….but hasn’t yet ascended. Instead, Christ is very present with them here on earth in holy consolation. They spend their whole day in devotion, they weep and sigh as they pray and meditate all day long. Every moment is filled with exquisite joy and their days pass by in one, long continual song of Alleluia. But they need a little less Christ present with them. It’s better for them if Christ recedes a bit because they need to learn to eat solid food on their own (Heb. 5:12)
When will they understand this? They complain that they are deserted by God and that grace has been taken from them. They need to wait a little. They need to stay put until they are clothed with a stronger power from on high. They need to be ready to receive the greater gifts of the Holy Spirit.
When the apostles were moved to that higher place, and entered the more excellent way of love (1 Cor 12:31), they were no longer anxious about Christ ascending - they were ready to see what incredible things God would do next.
I love how these words from almost a thousand years ago capture so accurately what it’s like to live a faithful life. As the hymn says, “We are travelers on a journey. We are pilgrims on a road…” To be followers of The Way is to be moving, changing, growing, regressing, transforming as humans and as people of faith. We go through periods where we pray fervently...and other periods where we don’t even remember that we’re forgetting to pray. We have moments of great certainty and conviction...and other moments when we’re not even sure God exists. At times we are captivated by our sacred stories, music, art….and at times we feel totally disconnected from these shared touchstones. At times God really does feel as close as our next breath...and then there are other periods when the Holy feels so far away we can’t connect at all. I’ve never yet met a person who felt like their faith journey was linear, simple, easy.
And I love how St. Bernard honors all of this and the movement we all experience over the course of a faithful lifetime. He ties it to the turning of the church year. We walk together through Lent - when Jesus is still living and breathing and teaching among us. And then we turn the corner into Easter - when Christ has died, but the story goes on because death cannot stop Love. As the season of Easter comes to a close, we mark the holy day of Ascension - 40 days after Easter and 10 days before Pentecost. That means it came and went this past Thursday. You threw a big party, right?
Probably not. We’re not too big on Ascension traditions in the UCC, but it’s definitely a story worth remembering and a day worth marking together. It’s the first story in the Book of Acts - a continuation of the Gospel of Luke. Though the Gospel of John comes between these two books in our Bibles, it would make a lot more sense if you could just turn the page from Luke to Acts because they truly were meant to be read as a two-book series. The Gospel of Luke closes with the resurrected Christ ascending to the heavens...and the Book of Acts opens with the same scene.
The book of Acts is written to all of us. Did you know that? Says so right there in the first line. It’s addressed to Theophilus. Which might have been a real person, but also very well may have just been a way of saying it’s a book for anyone who is loved by God or loves God. That means us.
And as we’ve already seen these past few weeks, the Book of Acts is about all those “travelers on a journey,” those “pilgrims on a road” in those early years of The Way. There’s a constant, unrelenting feeling of MOVEMENT in the Book of Acts. Our faith ancestors were moving, changing, growing, regressing, transforming as humans and as people of faith...and we get a front row seat to all of it.
Even in this opening scene, it’s clear that everything is shifting and changing for these weary travelers who have already been through so much. They’ve devoted themselves to following this enigmatic teacher….and then he was arrested….and killed...but somehow didn’t really go away? And they’ve been living in this weird liminal space for 40 days....with Jesus here but not here with them. During this time, Jesus has told them to stay put in Jerusalem and to await the gift of the Holy Spirit. They’re doing their best to stay patient but, really, this is a lot to take in. And so they are filled with questions about how this is all supposed to work. And they ask, “Jesus, are we there yet? Is it time for you to give us our freedom? To save us from Rome?”
Jesus’s answer is less-than-satisfactory. “It’s not for you to know when it’s all going to happen,” he says, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
And then….before they can even sneak in a follow-up question, we are told he begins to disappear. Specifically, to be lifted up into union with God. Ascended. Out of sight. Somewhere, somehow….beyond.
Moving, shifting, changing, never holding still. Jesus is like sands slipping through their fingers. Or water seeping through all the cracks. The breeze that never holds still - not even for a moment.
As we mark this movement from Lent to Easter to Ascension to Pentecost, I am also struck by other movements in the text. For starters, the author of Acts calls Jesus’s followers apostles here. Disciples and apostles are terms that are often used interchangeably, but they’re different. To be a disciple is to be a follower, a learner, a student. But to be an apostle is to be a person sent out to share a message, to teach. A disciple receives and an apostle shares what they’ve received with others. It’s no accident that this passage refers to Jesus’s followers as apostles, because Jesus is very clear that they are about to be sent forth.
And that’s another bit of movement we see here: Jesus tells them that when the Holy Spirit is given to them, they will be sent to be his witnesses - to share what they’ve experienced - in far away places. For now, he’s told them to stay put in Jerusalem and wait for the gift of the Holy Spirit. But once she arrives, they are going to be SENT - to Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
Moving, shifting, changing, never holding still. Jesus is like sand slipping through their fingers. The disciples stare up at the sky with their mouths agape. Can we even imagine what they might have been feeling? They’ve lost their leader once before….and now….is he REALLY gone?
No, not really. Christ is ever-present for those with eyes to see. We are Christ when we allow ourselves to be sent out in love as his apostles. We see Christ in one another and hear Christ’s loving voice in music, through art, and in the exquisite beauty of creation. When we speak those words of promise as we gather for Holy Communion - “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again” - we are reminded that Jesus is much bigger than the enfleshed human of Nazareth who walked this earth. Jesus helped us catch a glimpse of that moving, shifting, changing, never holding still force of love-peace-justice-grace that we sometimes call Christ.
And Christ will never leave us. Love incarnate continues to arrive with each passing breath, each heartbeat - as surely as the sun rises each day. The world continues to move and shift and change - God knows we’ve had enough change in the past year to last us a decade. The rate of change can sometimes feel absolutely astounding - overwhelming.
But God’s peace will not be overwhelmed. It arrives even now. And as we watch another Easter season slip away and see the apostles staring up at the sky, awaiting the gift of the Holy Spirit, we can rest assured that the world will never move too fast for God’s presence. God meets us in each and every moment. Now and now and now and now.
We are held in the assurance of Christ’s love, which cannot be broken. And we are invited to step into the Spirit’s power and share that good news with a world that sometimes feels like it’s spinning out of control.
Let’s pray together:
God of life,
We do not know the face of the future,
any more than the disciples did.
Like them, we have many questions:
how to live
how to bear witness.
Like them, we thirst for the spring waters of the Spirit
to inspire us in our living
to give us a heart language in our testimony.
Christ has been raised in glory
that we might rise with dignity
Christ lives in power that we might live in peace
Christ is present everywhere
that we might be fully present in our own lives
This we believe
This we step out on.
Amen. [2]
NOTES:
[1] You can read the original sermon here:
[2] Originally posted on the Monthly Prayers page (now Weekly Worship) of the Christian Aid website
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